What happens in your house when the 4th of July is approaching? Cook out plans? Mega food shopping? Maybe even some decorating? Well, we do all that too. But we also indulge in flaming toys that make a really big boom. Totally normal right? Yeah, didn’t think so. But it happened anyway.

This past Saturday my hubby, brother and I took a 3 hour drive to New Hampshire to a large fireworks warehouse. But we didn’t go there to buy sparklers and little ground spark fountains, the kind that were just recently made legal in my little state. No, we went there to buy 500 gram cakes that shoot full blooms into the air and make a lot of noise. Yes, we’re having full aerials on the 4th and we currently have 3 cakes worth plus some individual shots affectionately called Predator. Basically, we bought the exact opposite of what are now considered legal fireworks. Our pile is pictured below.

Ignore the crap in the background, it was the microwave packaging.

Probably overboard but I can guarantee my hubby would tell you he wants more. This is what he has been thinking about since we started house hunting early last year. He knew right away he wanted to have a cook out and set off what he called ‘real’ fireworks and has been planning this for months. He probably would have bought more if we hadn’t just purchased 4 appliances a couple weeks ago. Personally, I would rather have the appliances but maybe I’m slightly biased since I use the kitchen and won’t be playing with the flaming boxes. Although I did pick out a small box that I don’t even know what it will do, all I know is whatever it shoots out will be pink which was enough for me. They named it Pink Diamonds which is just an adorable name for a firework. Pink isn’t exactly in line with the patriotic red, white and blue but we have plenty of that too.

The sales people there loved them since the prices of the cakes didn’t even faze them and my hubby gave a simple, “sure, throw it in” when they would show us different items. That’s how we ended up with that pile. Most of it was suggested and they just went with it. I assure you hubby doesn’t normally shop this way but a pyro in a fireworks warehouse is sort of like a dog standing in front of a huge plate of bacon. Just can’t help themselves.

Next year? They already plan to go bigger and we haven’t even launched the ones sitting in our basement yet. Also? Our neighbors will probably hate us. Although I know we won’t be the only ones since the entire state including the police department are confused about the new fireworks law. It clearly says only handheld and ground fireworks are now legal but yet it’s still a big mystery to people about what is and is not legal. Several police departments have flat out admitted they don’t know what the law is. Fantastic law enforcement people we have huh? Very impressive.

We also already had a major idiot strike only days after the fireworks law was passed, although it probably would have happened anyway but people are always looking for something to blame. A man from out of state was staying in a local hotel and decided it would be a good idea to set off fireworks in his hotel room including roman candles. The entire hotel was evacuated and his room was completely scorched. Serious dumbass.

You know, I probably shouldn’t tell hubby and my brother that I compared them to dogs and crack addicts. Might not find it quite as funny as I do.

I sort of have my kitchen back. More specifically I have a dishwasher that is where it belongs and works. What a concept huh? The plumber was able to do what he was hired to do and after running new water lines and capping off old ones he was able to install the new dishwasher to set us free from washing everything in the sink. All for the same amount we spent on the dishwasher itself. Oh joy.

The microwave still isn’t in yet since we could barely even access part of our kitchen with the mess that was going on and the plumbing issues were more important. Hopefully that will happen pretty soon too since it’s annoying not having it. I never realized how much we rely on our microwave until it’s been just sitting in my dining room in a box. Plus staring at a hole above the stove isn’t exactly appealing. Speaking of the stove, that thing is awesome! Look at my new best friend!

The two ovens make cooking multiple things at different temperatures a breeze. Plus having a flat cook top is now my favorite thing in the world. Our old stove still had those coils that were no longer level so things would gather to one side of the pan and cooking evenly was a serious trick. Now there’s no more pan rocking and everything is even and cooks faster. I’m in love.

As for our battle with Lowe’s, we can officially declare it over. We didn’t hear from a senior manager until after we put in a complaint with the district office. Only three hours later we received two phone calls from a store manager who suddenly seemed very eager to speak with us. He claimed that our report had been marked resolved which was why we never heard from him. He also claimed that there were no notes about a manager we spoke with on the first day who was extremely rude so he had no idea that conversation even happened. Whatever, we would have never heard from him if he hadn’t received a call from his district manager.

Anyway, to try to resolve the situation and leave us with good feelings about their store, they’re sending us a $200 gift card. It’s appreciated and obviously we’ll return to the store and use it, but I can’t guarantee we’ll always turn to Lowe’s for our household purchases in the future. Before this, we automatically went to Lowe’s for everything from seed and stone to appliances and painting items. Now, because of everything that happened and the fact that the store dragged it out for literally a week we probably won’t be as loyal to their company. That might change over time but as of right now that’s how we feel.

We still have two holes in our basement ceiling from where we had to cut to access the leaking water line.

Aren’t they pretty? I literally groan each time I go downstairs for something and have to see them. It’s never fun seeing holes where they don’t belong. I hate them. But they’ll be fixed soon too. Our washing machine is also good to go. The recall fix literally took the GE guy less than 2 minutes. All he had to do was put a cover over the wire so that if it ever broke it wouldn’t come in contact with the metal tub. It’s running as we speak as I attempt to catch up on laundry. I’ll be climbing laundry mountain for the next couple days. If I’m not back in a few days call in the search party.

PS: The things you guys say in the comments just makes me love you all! Saying you'll boycott a store on my behalf or that I should have been able to punch someone in the nuts are the kind of thing that make this blog soooooo worth it! You're awesome.

Have you ever had just one of those weeks? Of course you have. We’re having one of them. Only it’s lasting longer than a week. And it just keeps on growing. Something that should have been simple and pretty straight forward turned into the biggest cluster fuck that still hasn’t been straightened out. And honestly? I have no idea when it will be. It SHOULD be Tuesday but who really knows. It was supposed to be fine for last Wednesday. Then Thursday. Then Friday would be the magic day. And you get the picture.

First, we decided to buy new appliances. Goodbye old slowly dying white things and hello beautiful stainless steel! I was thrilled especially since we were buying them all at once so I wouldn’t have to stare at mismatched ones for a while. So we went to the store found what we wanted and sort of fell in love with a stove. It has TWO ovens people! Awesome! We ordered the microwave, dishwasher and stove. We planned to order the fridge the following week since we had to remove a cabinet that would be in the way. We placed the order for delivery and installation and went home ready to have an updated kitchen. This is pretty much where the fun ended. Now we enter into a world of stress.

A couple days later the truck showed up with my pretty new toys waiting inside. The delivery men had a surprise for me though. They weren’t going to install anything, just deliver. That’s right; they were just ‘dropping off’ our new appliances. So they put the stove in its spot and left the new microwave and dishwasher sitting in the middle of my kitchen still in the original boxes. Why? Because the sales person we bought from didn’t put in for installation. Even though we told him that was what we wanted and expected. Fucking hell!

We called Lowe’s (where we bought the appliances) and the salesperson claimed we told him we wanted to install them ourselves. HELL NO! Hubby doesn’t do plumbing. It’s not his thing. He is amazing with a lot things but plumbing is not one he even wants to do. Ever. We never had even remotely close to a conversation with this guy where we said we would do anything ourselves. Actually, we told him flat out that we wanted them installed and the old ones hauled away. The guy apparently only half listened. Then he decided to blame us for the whole thing. Asshole.

So what did they say when we said they needed to send someone out for installation? Said the earliest they could do was the following Monday. It was Wednesday! The big problem with that was we had no hot water since the old dishwasher was unhooked. I know that sounds weird but whoever originally hooked up a dishwasher in this house the first time, did it wrong. Big surprise. The hot water line was hooked up separately from the lines under the sink and the only turn off valve to that line had been dry walled over in the basement ceiling. So the only way to turn off that pipe was directly at the hot water heater. Which meant Lowe’s expected us to have no hot water for literally almost a week. So NOT happening.

So we had a plumber come out Friday to install the dishwasher even though it would cost more just so we could have a functioning kitchen and house. Except that didn’t happen. Turns out the hot water line to the dishwasher isn’t only wrong but was leaking. Awesome huh? It was beyond repair and needed to be replaced. Instead we’re having them re-run the line through the cabinets to connect under the sink where they should have been to begin with so it won’t be hidden behind dry wall anymore. Best of all though? In order to have hot water back in the house we had to cut a hole in the dry wall in the basement ceiling to get to the turn off valve for the leaking pipe. Fan-fucking-tastic.

Because of the size of the job the plumber couldn’t do the rerunning of the pipes that day since it was already late afternoon. So the earliest they can come back is Tuesday morning. So we have had hot water all weekend but no dishwasher. It’s still sitting in the kitchen taking up way too much space and getting in the way. Plus there is a huge empty space under the counter where it should be and a hole in the ceiling downstairs. Basically? My house is a fucking mess.

As if that wasn’t enough, something else popped up on Saturday. Turns out our front load washing machine is involved in a recall. What the fuck?! It’s a fire hazard. Apparently some wire inside can break and when it touches the metal tub can cause shocks and catch on fire. It’s happened to 7 different people already. So now we can’t use the washing machine until Tuesday afternoon when GE comes out to repair it. Literally one thing after another.

Lowe’s is being total assholes about the whole thing too. We’ve been told by two different people that we would be hearing from a senior store manager about the problems we had with the sales person and delivery. We were told we would hear from them within 24 hours. That was on Wednesday and we haven’t heard anything. They’re not even trying to right the situation. So when we went out to buy our new fridge, we didn’t go back to Lowe’s. Instead we went to Sears and they even price matched what Lowe’s was offering. We pushed back the delivery date so we could get this mess situated and then remove the cabinet that would be in the way of the new fridge.

It’s safe to say we’ve been pretty stressed. I haven’t even wanted to be in my own house all weekend just so I wouldn’t have to look at the disaster zone that is my kitchen. I know that’s avoidance but hey, whatever works.

Oh and we almost got in an accident last night on our way home from dinner. Some ass in a huge SUV decided he wanted to be in the exact spot of our lane that we were already in. I looked up and there it was within inches of my door. Thankfully my Hubby was able to get us out of it but barely. Scared me so much I actually screamed.